Former
Philippine Undersecretary of EducationISAGANI R. CRUZ, PhD is
a University Fellow at De La Salle University
in Manila.

He
writes plays, essays, short stories, and biographies in
Filipino and English, for which he has won numerous awards,
including a SEAWRITE award, a Centennial Literary Contest award,
and a Gawad Balagtas award.He has been named to the Hall of Fame of the Carlos Palanca
Memorial Awards in Literature.He has written or edited more than thirty books.

He
holds a B.S. in Physics from the University of the Philippines, an
M.A. in English from Ateneo de Manila University, and a Ph.D. in
English from the University of Maryland.

He
has been a professor or a visiting fellow at Ateneo de Manila
University, Ateneo de Davao University, University of the
Philippines Diliman, University of Maryland, Ohio University,
Jundi Shapur University in Iran, Soochow University in Taiwan,
Waseda University in Japan, and the University of Oxford in
England.

He
heads the Technical Panel on the Humanities, Social Sciences, and
Communication of the Philippine Commission for Higher Education (CHED),
the Graduate Commission of the Philippine Accrediting Association
of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU), the Philippine
Center of International PEN, and the Philippine Fulbright Scholars
Association (PFSA).

He
is a Senior Bibliographer of the Modern Language Association of
America (MLA).He founded the Manila Critics Circle (MCC) and was formerly
the president of the Philippine Studies Association (PSA).He is Chair and President of Books for Philippine Schools
Foundation (BPSF).

He
has been decorated by the Government of France as a Chevalier
dans l’ Ordre National du Mérite [Knight of the National
Order of Merit] and by the Ramain family as Honorary Sultan of
Iligan City.He writes weekly columns on books, culture, and education
for The Philippine Star and BizNews
Asia.